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New Images of the Distant Ultima Thule Object Have Surprised Scientists (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the surprise-findings dept.

Iwastheone shares a report from Ars Technica: Back in early January, when scientists pulled down their first batch of data from the New Horizons spacecraft, they celebrated an odd snowman-shaped object in the outer Solar System. From this first look, it appeared as though Ultima Thule, formally named 2014 MU69, consisted of two spheres in contact with one another -- a contact binary. Now that scientists have downloaded more data from the distant spacecraft, however, our view of Ultima Thule has changed. A sequence of images captured as New Horizons moved away from the object in the Kuiper Belt at a velocity of 50,000 km/hour, taken about 10 minutes after closest approach, show a much flatter appearance. After analyzing these new images, scientists say the larger lobe more closely resembles a large pancake, and the smaller lobe looks a bit like a walnut. The new photos reveal a dramatically different object because they were taken from a different angle than the images that were downloaded first. As planetary scientist Alex Parker noted on Twitter, "The larger lobe looks to have a shape similar to some of the pancake moons of Saturn, like Atlas." However, Saturn's moons were believed to have formed near the gas giant, in the midst of its rings, rather than in deep space.

65 comments

  1. I, for one, welcomes the return of the old ones. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They only had one thing wrong; it wasn't the death of the sea but the unfathomable depth of space.

  2. Did both parts have a high rotation? by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

    Doesn't one of the moons of Saturn have an equatorial mountain range, apparently caused by deposition in the plane of the equator only?

    So maybe the larger lobe formed out of a disk of material which was deposited at the equator, and built the object up into this pancake shape.

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
    1. Re:Did both parts have a high rotation? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Iapetus.

      There's a few ideas as to what caused the ridge but there's not saying for sure. The front runner seems to be that the ridge is from having a fast rotation early on. As it cooled this ridge solidified and the moon became more spherical as the rotation slowed. At least that's what I've taken from how it's described. It could have also been deposits from a debris disk/ring.

      There is also an idea that it's the ridge that determined the rotational axis of the body and not the rotation of the body that formed the ridge. It would be amazing (at least to me) if true but it has been given some consideration.

  3. MMM pancakes with walnuts by bobstreo · · Score: 1

    all we need now is some space twinberry (or space maple) syrup.

    1. Re:MMM pancakes with walnuts by h33t+l4x0r · · Score: 1

      I'm going to have to assume that a super-massive banana is bending spacetime, because that's the only explanation I will accept for it's absence.

      Banana walnut pancakes FTW

    2. Re:MMM pancakes with walnuts by elrous0 · · Score: 2

      Yeah, pancakes. When I was a kid during the Apollo era, every kid (and most adults) assumed that by 2018 we would have moon bases, giant space stations, maybe even colonies on Mars--that Apollo was just the beginning of mankind's journey into space.

      Now it's 2018 and the U.S. can't even put a man in orbit. And NASA gives us pancakes. Delicious.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    3. Re:MMM pancakes with walnuts by elrous0 · · Score: 1

      Damn, I meant 2019. Somehow even worse.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    4. Re: MMM pancakes with walnuts by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Seems the gov't shutdown made analysts hungry.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    5. Re:MMM pancakes with walnuts by whitroth · · Score: 1

      Wrong. We were figuring Moon bases, and the *world* really accessing space... by 2001.

      As the lady said, We Are Not Amused.

    6. Re:MMM pancakes with walnuts by lgw · · Score: 1

      NASA is pretty useless, but that's not where the US space industry is any more. Both SpaceX and Blue Origin will be man-rating launch systems this year. Blue Origin will only be suborbital this year, but they plan to do it a lot - New Shepard is extremely re-usable. SpaceX will have us back to putting men into orbit, probably this year.

      Apollo-era NASA did great things, but it was 100% focused on "man on moon", and 0% focused on building a platform for future rocketry. They wen off the rails with the shuttle, and never recovered. That may have set US space exploration back 20 years, but the current pace of innovation is pretty amazing.

      Launch costs have come down a lot in the past 5 years, and are on the threshold of changing the game entirely. Man industries, starting with power generation, will have good financial incentive to move into space for profit, if launch costs were only low enough. We're just about there.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    7. Re:MMM pancakes with walnuts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Banana walnut pancakes FTL"

      FTFY. In the NASA context we need something better than FTW. Phasers, not lasers!

  4. Meain Kampf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    It was the most inspiring book I've ever read and I'm very fortunate it came into my life.

    http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/

    It was written by Adolph Hitler.

    1. Re: Meain Kampf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A walnut? I see

    2. Re:Meain Kampf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1
      Mein Krampf.

      You need to spell it right, kike.

  5. Re:I, for one, welcome some border security by Build++That++Wall · · Score: -1

    Donald J. Trump is a national hero.

    I_I ^ I_I ^ I_I ^ I_I ^ I_I ^ I_I ^ I_I ^ I_I ^ I_I ^ I_I ^ I_I ^ I_I ^
    |x|o|o|x|||o|o|x|=|x|o|o|||x|o|o|x|=|x|o|o|x|||o|o|x|=|x|o|o|x|||o|o|x|
    |o|x|x|o|||x|x|o|=|o|x|x|||o|x|x|o|=|o|x|x|o|||x|x|o|=|o|x|x|o|||x|x|o|
    |o|x|x|o|||x|x|o|=|o|x|x|||o|x|x|o|=|o|x|x|o|||x|x|o|=|o|x|x|o|||x|x|o|
    |x|o|o|x|||o|o|x|=|x|o|o|||x|o|o|x|=|x|o|o|x|||o|o|x|=|x|o|o|x|||o|o|x|
    Buld that wall, Mr. President

  6. Don't know my own strength by garryknight · · Score: 2

    I knew it was a mistake trying that new walnut pancake recipe. And I probably went a bit overboard tossing it. Please accept my apologies.

    --
    Garry Knight
  7. Happy Beltaine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    To all the Irish and Wiccaners.

  8. A spacecraft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It has all the properties a good spacecraft should have. Therefore it is one.

  9. Still didn't change the name, eh? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: -1

    I see it still has the Nazi name. How was this not changed? This just gives air to the alt right and other unsavory movements. Misogynist shirts were just the beginning.

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    1. Re:Still didn't change the name, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      Why should they change the name. To do so would only be yielding to these fringe alt-right groups and giving them legitimacy.

    2. Re:Still didn't change the name, eh? by religionofpeas · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Bad idea to change the name. It's better dilute the Nazi connotations by ordinary use.

    3. Re: Still didn't change the name, eh? by cyber-vandal · · Score: 2, Insightful

      He wore a tacky shirt! We must ruin his and his team's crowning moment and try to end his career! No wonder so many people hate you miserable dipshits.

    4. Re:Still didn't change the name, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just like those snow ski racks?

    5. Re:Still didn't change the name, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Feminazis Fuck Off !

    6. Re:Still didn't change the name, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see it still has the Nazi name. How was this not changed? This just gives air to the alt right and other unsavory movements. Misogynist shirts were just the beginning.

      Awwww, iddems poor widdle baby twiggered?

      Well, my child, you need to

      GROW THE FUCK UP, YOU CANDY-ASSED CRYBULLY!!!!!

    7. Re:Still didn't change the name, eh? by jfdavis668 · · Score: 1

      Ultima Thule is Latin, with Thule borrowed from Greek. Just because a Swedish company uses the name, doesn't make it German.

    8. Re:Still didn't change the name, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Why should they change the name. To do so would only be yielding to these fringe alt-right groups and giving them legitimacy.

      No, it would be yielding to the childish "progressive" intersectional bullshit artists who can't win a logical argument and therefore have to "no-platform" people they disagree with politically.

    9. Re:Still didn't change the name, eh? by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      I see it still has the Nazi name. How was this not changed?

      Well, Russia pioneered space flight using their Nazi scientists, and America further advanced space flight using their Nazi scientists. So it's only fair to recognize the Nazi contribution to space.

      Although it is dubious if the German space scientists were really Nazis. Most probably just joined the Nazi party to get funding for their research. Kinda sorta like what university staff do today to get funding. Claiming that your research will cure global warming or beat the Chinese is a good way to get funding from the government.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    10. Re:Still didn't change the name, eh? by lgw · · Score: 1

      Although it is dubious if the German space scientists were really Nazis.

      Murder Van Braun knowingly made weapons that could only be used to attack civilians, and were used that way every day. Being a Nazi or not is small potatoes in comparison, he's drenched in the blood of murdered children. This isn't like the moral quagmire around building ICBMs (which, arguably, prevented war).

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    11. Re:Still didn't change the name, eh? by HiThere · · Score: 2

      You need to study a bit more Greek. Ultima Thule comes from classic Greek and means, approx., "the ends of the earth". Or are you a believer in sympathetic magic?

      (FWIW, I am a believer in sympathetic magic, but you complaint still seems silly...and says more about you than about what you're complaining about. Note: Because I believe in sympathetic magic I avoid ads and won't use a swastika as a solar symbol. It does work, but it works internally, and you should notice the effects and act to achieve the results that you desire. Often this means avoiding the stimulus. In *this* case, though, ... well, the appropriate counter charm is to read more Herodotus.)

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    12. Re:Still didn't change the name, eh? by HiThere · · Score: 1

      A valid point, but the name still needs to be changed. Either that or define it's orbit as the edge of the solar system, and I prefer the Heliopause for that. "Ultima Thule" means (approx.) "The ends of the earth", and giving the body that name puts an artificial boundary in people's minds.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    13. Re:Still didn't change the name, eh? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 0

      Believing fools like yourself are total blithering morons. Thule was used in Nazi mythology to put a happy face on white supremacy. Naming an asteroid after it is science giving air to literal Nazis.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    14. Re:Still didn't change the name, eh? by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Ultima Thule existed long before a few mystical minded Nazis borrowed this. It's so obscure in Nazi lore that even most neo-Nazis don't know what it is.

      Next up, we can't create bad paintings of mountains because that's what Hitler did.

  10. Re:I, for one, welcome some border security by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

    Do you think /. features on his 'executive time'

    --
    Wanna buy a shirt?
    https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
  11. Take your pills SJW. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It's only the likes of you who instantly think about "races" and hate and sexism.

    We just hear a name from a mythology, older than that of the one who raped you as a child.

  12. You can't call it "Ultima Thule"!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm triggered!!!!

    1. Re: You can't call it "Ultima Thule"!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thanks for sharing

  13. it is shaped like a by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    creimette bowel movement

    minus the smell

    1. Re: it is shaped like a by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A good assumption but I just know Creimette doesnt have bowel movements

    2. Re:it is shaped like a by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Took creimer 13 months to get 50 subscribers and he picked up seven subscribers this past weekend. He's "adulting" Bill Mayer for "adulting" Stan Lee in his new video.

  14. Re: I, for one, welcome some border security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Slashdot is given instructions by BizX to focus on certain political topics for SEO wizardry. Do a google search and look through all the nonsensical URI routing that is done now on slashdot with the bizarre aggregated pages generated. Pages that can only be found from a google search.

  15. Carry on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    This is why I come to slashdot - for all of the intellectual comments.
    Let me know if one is made.

  16. What this object is by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    According to the article: "this object, and others like it, are thought to be "pristine planetesimals" like those that served as building blocks for larger objects in the Solar System during its early days, 4.5 billion years ago."

    Why that wasn't in the summary I don't know, but it made me click on the link.

    1. Re:What this object is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice to know our world is made up of balls and pancakes. It explains a lot.

  17. curves by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Snake on a plane.

  18. Can we pick a better source, please? by Cytotoxic · · Score: 1

    Ars Technica is great.

    But it is hardly the authoritative source for space news. Yet here on Slashdot we post from Ars instead of any of a couple of dozen more authoritative sources. There are astronomy sites, general science sites, planetary exploration sites, rocket science sites.... Heck, go straight to the NASA project site.

    A computer tech blog isn't the last place to go for news about a NASA planetary science project, but it certainly is pretty far down the list.

    1. Re:Can we pick a better source, please? by jellomizer · · Score: 2

      Science based reporting to the public is flawed. There is a big gap from the raw data, to the over simplified and often inaccurate general use "Science is Cool! Really it is!" reports.

      Part of the problem is general news sites target people with an 8th grade education. Why 8th grade? Because after 8th grade students will tend to focus more on particular tracks of study. So in depth or more advanced explanations is often over most of the populations head, (even those with PHD because they will probably have a PHD in an other area of study).

      The other part of the problem, is there is a vocal group of people who are disenfranchised with science. This can happen from many directions.
      People who were taught to trust science, only to show it was harmful. (kids playing the DDT Cloud)

      People not adapting to changes in the scientific strongest theories. The 1970's because of the smog that was blocking sunlight, there was a prediction of the earth cooling. Then after smog controls were enacted now we have global warming. To some this is Science being wrong again! However Smog does cause the weather to be cooler, as shown from the Beijing Olympics, where the temperature has risen, because they stopped all the smog for the events.

      The conspiracy from scientists idea. It seems being a scientist, you are targeted to be part of some sort of grand conspiracy, either by those people who want to take your cars away, or by the corporations who just want to pollute the world for quarterly profit rises. (I kinda wish, I went into climate science, just so I can get paid the big hush money bucks!) ...

      So we need to appeal to these people and not cause them to freak out as well.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    2. Re:Can we pick a better source, please? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The 1970's because of the smog that was blocking sunlight, there was a prediction of the earth cooling.

      Yeah. By journalists.

    3. Re:Can we pick a better source, please? by epine · · Score: 1

      So in depth or more advanced explanations are often over most of the population's heads (even those with a PhD, because they will probably have a PhD in a different area of study).

      I assure you that none of the advanced sketch is over the head of any STEM PhD who has managed to look up from a self-imposed exile amid a daunting tower of books and pre-prints for more than five minutes at any time over the past six months.

      This criteria, of course, narrows the field considerably.

      But don't blame this on specialization. 90% of this is a treadmill effect, not a specialization effect.

    4. Re: Can we pick a better source, please? by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      Ars Technica is great.

      Sure, now we just need to redefine "great"

      It's written by people who largely did not read for pleasure during their childhoods and thus should've chosen different careers. I usually can't finish one of their articles without ending up utterly disgusted with their amateurish "literary" skills.

    5. Re: Can we pick a better source, please? by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      I assure you that none of the advanced sketch is over the head of any STEM PhD who has managed to look up from a self-imposed exile amid a daunting tower of books and pre-prints for more than five minutes at any time over the past six months.

      Be sure to take a breath every now and then...

    6. Re:Can we pick a better source, please? by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Yes, the argument about PhDs was a bit misguided. I suspect that *some* humanities PhDs are allergic to math, but hardly most of them. Additionally, I don't find the NASA raw data all that compelling, and I much prefer a summarized form. Something like the Scientific American used to publish before the latest round of dumbing things down.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    7. Re: Can we pick a better source, please? by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      This sounds like most internet sites designed to make money from ads. Content creators are hired because they're cheap not because they're good at writing or that they can understand what they are writing bout. Ars Technica is a thousand times better than the average gaming site for exampoe.

  19. I guess it makes sense? by argStyopa · · Score: 2

    Doesn't an oblate spheroid make sense (as constituent parts)?

    In theory-space, particles would be pulled together (assuming zero starting motion to all particles in a cloud, all the same density, size, and frictionlessness) would form into a theoretically-perfect sphere by gravity.

    But IRL these particles don't start out with zero motion....in fact the almost all have SOME motion, as well as slight attractiveness to each other and of course friction. As these all pull toward a centroid, the conservation of angular momentum causing it to spin faster and form an oblate rather than a sphere. In fact, one might be able to infer some information about the initial formation-state of the body by its oblateness, particularly if one could get a statistically useful cross-section of the materials that comprise it?

    --
    -Styopa
    1. Re:I guess it makes sense? by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      As Morrissey said, some things are oblater than others.

      Jupiter is big and soft and spins like a dervish but it still looks round to the naked eye.

      I suppose it could have happened that all the bits of this thing came together to act synergistically rather than mostly cancelling out but it seems improbable. And if it was spinning that fast wouldn't it have broken apart? Depends how all the forces scale, I suppose.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    2. Re:I guess it makes sense? by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Jupiter is big and soft and spins like a dervish but it still looks round to the naked eye.

      Not really. It's visibly a slight ovoid in good telescope.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    3. Re:I guess it makes sense? by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Not having a telescope of any kind, plus it being day, I looked on teh webs.

      The photos all look pretty round to me. Certainly closer to a sphere than a Smartie.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  20. Re:I, for one, welcome some border security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Donald J. Trump is a national hero.

    Yes he is. The only question is "Which nation?"

  21. Says the 'tard with the personal attacks. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Thank you for validating the the parent comment is correct. By showing that no argument against it could be found, even after intense struggling.

  22. Dunno but ... by nospam007 · · Score: 3, Funny

    "closely resembles a large pancake, and the smaller lobe looks a bit like a walnut."

    Some scientist should have breakfast before going to work.

  23. Meain Kampf + Dianetics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I like the mash-up of the two. It's all about mining old volcanoes.

  24. Re:I, for one, welcome some border security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ah the MUH RUSSIA Fantasy

  25. Hey! by DarthVain · · Score: 1

    Your ship looks like walnut and a pancake got squished together...

    Han: "Hey!"

  26. Noticed earlier by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    Roughly a month ago, somebody "glued" the first two semi-clear images together into an animated gif to give a rough sense of stereo, and someone noted the larger lobe appeared relatively flat. I think it was on Reddit. I couldn't find the comment itself, but here's an example of the image:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/...

    (The image was posted multiple times. Reddit has dupe issues too ;-)

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  27. beneath thick debris layer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Its Millenium Falcon!